Journey to the Centre of the Earth is an 1864 science-fiction novel by Jules Verne (published in the original French as Voyage au centre de la Terre). The story involves a professor who leads his nephew and hired guide down a volcano in Iceland to the 'centre of the Earth'. They are involved in many adventures, encountering prehistoric animals and natural hazards, and eventually come to the surface again in southern Italy. Verne's own belief, expressed in the novel as the viewpoint of a character, is that the inside of the Earth does in fact differ from that which the characters encounter.